The most recently developed mobile telephones have a number of different functions that can be updated by information downloaded from a telecommunications network operator. They are downloaded from the network or provided by an operator or some other service provider. For example, ringing tones can be downloaded to a mobile phone from the mobile network. For example, Finnish telecommunications operator Sonera has a service in which a request for a new ringing tone is sent from a mobile phone by a Short Message (SM) supported by the Short Message Service (SMS). SMS is known from the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) system. In response to a short message received from a user, the requested ringing tone is provided to the mobile phone by a SM. A charge is made for this service in a subsequent invoice for use of the mobile phone.
Whilst a telecommunications network provides a convenient way for a service provider to provide a service to a user and charge the user for the service, a problem arises when the service provider is not the telecommunications network operator itself. In that case the service provider must have a debiting agreement with the telecommunications network operator for the charge to be included in a telephone invoice of the user. Therefore the service provider needs to have a contract with each telecommunications network operator which relays any of its services. For a service provider providing services globally the present number of telecommunications network operators is far too large for this to be reasonable. Clearly, since there is a time period between provision of the service and payment to the service provider, in effect the service provider is giving a short-term loan to the user of the service. This involves a credit risk. It would be convenient if the payment could be received before the service is provided so that the service provider receives payment beforehand.
As an example of prepaying for a service, Sonera has a prepaid subscription arrangement called “Easy” for establishing and maintaining a mobile telephone subscription with prepaying of phone calls and sending of short messages. Using the service allows ordinary mobile telephone operations such as making mobile telephone calls and sending and receiving short messages. In this arrangement, a user initially buys a Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) card with a predetermined monetary value that can be used for making telephone calls and for sending SMs. The initial price of the SIM card is about 65 USD. Next, the user needs to call to an automatic answering device of Sonera and to provide a serial number to establish an account for the SIM-card. The account will be immediately credited with a sum of 52 USD. The account will be debited when telephone calls are made and short messages are sent. Furthermore, when the remaining value on the account approaches zero, the user can credit the account by buying a ticket carrying a serial code from a shop, calling to a dedicated telephone number, and entering the serial code. Each ticket is worth 17 USD. When the serial code is verified and accepted value related to the ticket, that is 17 USD, is credited to the user's account. In effect, the subscription arrangement is an extension to a mobile operator's own invoicing system. Instead of maintaining an ordinary user account to be debited afterwards, an account is established beforehand and then debited on use. Debiting the account requires reliable identification of the user so that no one else can access the user's account. This happens automatically in GSM phone calls and sending of short messages with the subscriber identification procedure using the SIM-card. However, reliable user identification is a pre-requisite for this subscription arrangement.
An alternative way to pay for telecommunications services provided by a service provider would be for payment to be made by credit card. In this case the credit risk would then lie with the credit card provider. However, this arrangement is limited to users who have an approved type of a credit card. Furthermore, credit cards are not a convenient way to deal with small payments, such as five US dollars or less. Additionally, some people do not want to provide their credit card information over a telecommunications network for security reasons.
Another payment method is to use so-called electronic money or e-money in form of data loaded onto a smart card. If a telephone terminal has a smart card reader and an application for sending e-money from the smart card to a service provider over a telecommunication link, then it is possible to pay for telecommunications services with a smart card. However, such an arrangement requires that smart cards and smart card readers be provided.
It is an object of the present invention to avoid or at least mitigate the problems described above.